Rei and Asuka in the Elevator: REDUX
by Author0fntent
Summary: In a twist on the iconic elevator scene in episode 22, what happens when, instead of stark silence, Rei decides to tell it like it is to Asuka?


***Disclaimer: I own not a thing of Gainax, FOX, or 20th Television.***

Asuka Langley Sohryu was having a lousy day. Her sync rates were scoring at an all-time low, and coupled with some of her past traumas bubbling up in the wake of her fight with the 14th Angel, her mood wasn't going to improve any time soon. She'd just left the locker room and found herself sharing an elevator ride with fellow pilot Rei Ayanami. It was a mostly silent affair, until Rei suggested to Asuka that she should treat her EVA like a person. Fuming at this, in her mind, unwanted advice, she lashed out at the First Child.

Here's the thing though, this isn't the normal timeline; and this may have been the 'third' Rei, but unlike most timelines, she DID retain everything from her previous incarnation, right down to the emotions that were starting to finally become clear to her. To compound things even further, she had also finally become aware of her real connection to Shinji Ikari. So unlike what happened in said timelines, here Rei did something different and drastic. Something that caught Asuka completely off-guard. Asuka herself inadvertently prompted this when she argued why Rei could be such a doll.

Asuka: "After all you ARE just a doll! You've looked like a doll, and I've hated you for a long, long time!"

Rei pressed the 'stop' button on the elevator, and the car they were in halted between floors. Rei didn't care for the moment-there were plenty of other cars available in the Geofront for the rest of the staff to use. No, right now, she needed to get something off her chest regarding the self-styled "great" Asuka Langley Sohryu. Rei turned around and faced Asuka, an angry glare in her eyes.

Rei: "I feel the same way about you, big mouth."

Asuka was flabbergasted: "So, the doll actually can talk back? AND feel? That's rich, VERY rich. So tell me, First-why DO you hate me so much?"

There was a pause before Rei, the glare never leaving her face, replied.

Rei: "All right, I will tell you. You are the WORST person I know. You constantly verbally and sometimes even physically abuse the boy you live with, who cooks your food, cleans for you, has been nothing but nice to you and even saved you from certain death, and THIS is how you repay him? And to add insult to injury, you do not limit it to just the confines of your shared living space, but make sure anyone and everyone for miles around publicly knows it. Just to show how much of Shinji you take for granted without remorse. And he's not the only one you take for granted. Major Katsuragi, for all her faults (of which there are quite a number, as you well know), still willingly took you on as her ward and has been trying her best to raise you, but you NEVER really show her any appreciation for it. Granted, right now she is, and has, been under a lot of pressure, but still. And what really bothers me is you pretend you are this intelligent, mature young woman who is interested in 'real men' when all you do is lust after an unshaven Lothario twice your age who still carries a torch for Major Katsuragi. Not to say that is not normal, I mean what teenage girl HAS NOT crushed on an older man at some point in their lives, but at least they learn later on that a crush is all it is. I myself have never experienced this, but even I am aware of this phenomenon, and of how those who 'crush' are masking their real feelings for an actual boy their age-just like you and Shinji. That is right, I know your crush on Mr. Kaji is just your smokescreen for how you truly feel about Shinji. I know it, Major Katsuragi knows it, Mr. Kaji himself knows it, even classmate Horaki, your supposed 'best friend', knows it. But YOU cannot admit it yourself. Why? Because you are an insecure, standoffish, showboating, vainglorious, ill-tempered spoiled brat! I remember reading a book some time ago called _Catcher in the Rye_, and if there were ever a more fitting literary character to compare you to, Holden Caulfield is the perfect fit, considering that both of you are pompous, spoiled children with an ax to grind against 'phonies', when you yourselves are the very thing you hate. And on another topic, you delude yourself by thinking you're the best Evangelion pilot of them all, working hard to get where you are now, but the truth of the matter is you are TERRIBLE. Your sync rates plummeted because psychologically, you are allowing whatever traumatic moments of your life, as well as your aforementioned insecurities, to dictate how you perform in your duties. Shinji is guilty of this too, but only because he has gone through similar types of trauma as yourself, with most of the time having said traumas thrust upon him by outside forces. I have read both your files, your histories-did you know that he too lost his mother to an Evangelion experiment gone wrong? How he saw the whole thing happen before his very eyes? You would not have because all you go by in your interactions with him are your base first impressions of him as some weak, spineless coward who only got the job of a pilot because his father was in charge. Did you know that he did not even WANT to pilot in the first place? How he still hates it after all this time? How that hatred has only been cemented further thanks to what happened in the battle against the 13th Angel? How he no longer considers Commander Ikari his father as a result? Well, who the HELL are you to talk down to him all the time! How does YOUR inability to reach out to him and truly befriend him, perhaps grow even closer, justify your treatment of him? Is it any wonder that he feels like he is the chew toy of the world, how like you he fears abandonment by others if he does attempt to reach out, that if pushed ever further, he could either become suicidal or deranged!? I could forgive you for all of that, ALL of that, if you weren't, above all else, such a BORE. That's the worst of it, Asuka: you're just a sad, arrogant, haughty bore. You claim EVA is your life? Well, here is a question for you: what will you do when all Angels are defeated, and there is no longer a need for EVA? No answer? I thought so."

Asuka just stood there stunned, eyes wide with shock and her jaw nearly on the floor, as Rei turned around and pressed the button that let the elevator continue to its destination. Once it reached the floor Rei wanted, she stepped out, but not before she said one last thing to her dumbstruck fellow pilot.

Rei: "Goodbye, pilot Sohryu. Thanks for f^(%!+$# hearing me out. Good talk. Do me a favor, treat my brother a little better, or you will have something more to worry about than the either the Angels or your sync score."

Asuka kept standing there as the elevator doors closed and it was summoned to another floor, taking her along for the ride. It was a LOT to take in, from Rei's un-doll-like behavior, to the numerous grievances levied against her, to how she learned that Rei is really Shinji's sister. She couldn't get angry, not after everything that was leveled at her. All that, AND she could swear she heard the person she frequently referred to as 'Wondergirl' hum the chorus of an old pre-Second Impact song called "Big Shot" as she left. Finally, when she picked the floor she'd intended to get off at, one thing came to her mind as she went on her way back to Misato's apartment.

Asuka [internally]: "_Schiesse_, I need a drink..."

**END**

***Author's Note***

**This little piece I came up with after being inspired by the ****_Family Guy_**** episode "Jerome is the New Black", where Quagmire rants to Brian why it is that he doesn't like him. I figured that in a world where Rei fully remembered everything after her post-16th Angel rebirth, it'd be interesting to see how she takes stock of her fiery teammate's personality and behaviors, and throws it all back in her face in the famous elevator scene.**


End file.
